Elon Musk took to the X platform to declare that Tesla is set to trim memory usage in its AI5 and AI6 chips, aiming to cater to the memory-intensive requirements of the large-scale mass production of the Optimus robot. Earlier, Micron Technology's Chief Financial Officer had highlighted that humanoid robots are poised to emerge as a fresh frontier for memory demand. He pointed out that a single such device would necessitate over 200GB of DRAM and several terabytes of NAND flash memory. He further noted that, even amidst fluctuations in the AI market, memory prices are poised to remain stable. Against this backdrop, some netizens speculated that if Musk's vision of robots outnumbering humans were to materialize, with an estimated 10 billion robots in existence, it would necessitate a staggering 2 trillion GB of memory. In stark contrast, the current global annual DRAM production stands at a mere 45 billion GB.
Subsequently, Musk reposted the tweet and unveiled specific adjustment plans: the RAM for AI5 will be halved from the initially planned 144GB to 72GB LP5, marking a 50% reduction. Meanwhile, the RAM for AI6 will see a reduction of about 33%, from the originally planned 216GB to 144GB LP6. He underscored that memory bandwidth is more likely to pose a performance bottleneck than total capacity. Therefore, in this adjustment, the bandwidth remains untouched, and the anticipated impact on performance is expected to be minimal.